Review of 'The Prestige'

At the end of the 19th century two magicians are bitter rivals both professionally and personally. Neither will stop at anything to further their career as they literally tear each other apart hoping to learn each other's secrets. Their rivalry spills over to effect those they care about as they forsake everything and everyone to get what they want.

With fantastic sets and equally fantastic performances from an all-star cast including Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale as the two competing magicians with Michael Caine as mentor. The world in which they live is brought to life harkening back to a romanticized view of 19th century London.

The media hype around the movie belays little of what is actually present on the screen with a depth to the characters and story that is unexpected in a Hollywood film. The director of Momento and the recent Batman “Batman Begins” once again proves that there are still some very good directors around that can work within the studio system to bring class to the screens.

The story serves up a number of surprises with multiple levels of meaning and quite a sophisticated plot (as the trailer says “are you watching closely?”). The ending has several such shocks with one completely catching me off guard.

Overall the movie is very enjoyable with believable characters and interesting plot twists though it does drag a bit in the middle and seems a bit long.

Rating: “Really good but I have some issues”

Review Date: 2006-11-25

Directed by: Christopher Nolan

Studio: Touchstone Pictures

Year: 2006

Length: 128 minutes

Genre: Action/Adventure

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0482571/

• Batman Begins (2005)
• The Dark Knight (2008)
• Inception (2010)
• The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
• Interstellar (2014)
• Dunkrk (2017)
• Tenet (2020)
• Oppenheimer (2023)